Bill
Belew has the distinction of having designed Elvis Presley’s
costumes and personal wardrobe from 1968 until his death in
1977. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York,
Belew has also designed costumes for a multitude of entertainers,
including Lynne Redgrave, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Ella
Fitzgerald, Gloria Swanson, Sandy Duncan, Victoria Principal,
Pia Zadora, Joan Van Ark, Brooke Shields, Jaclyn Smith, Joan
Rivers, Gloria Estefan, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack and Dionne
Warwick, as well as Milton Berle, Doc Severensen among a numerous
others.

In
his varied career, Belew has designed costumes for over
70 theatrical productions, musicals, operas, ballets, TV
specials and series. In addition to his highly -acclaimed
work for the seminal Elvis Presley television specials in
the late 1960s and 1970s _ which introduced a reinvigorated
and dynamic Elvis to a whole new generation of fans? Belew’s
television special credits include “The Emmy Awards,” “The
American Music Awards, ” “ The Grammy Awards, “The ABC 25th
Anniversary Special,” “The David Copperfield Music Show,”
“The CBS Rolling Stones Special” and “The Carpenters Special”.

Ballets whose costumes have been designed by Belew include
The New York City Ballet productions of “The Firebird” and
“Giselle” and The San Francisco Ballet production of “America.”

Belew’s
creativity extended to legitimate theatre as well. Among
the many stage productions he has costume designed are “Sweet
Charity,” “Funny Girl”, at The Long Beach Civic Light Opera,”
“Don Juan in Hell” and “An Evening with Kaye Ballard” at
The Henry Fonda in Hollywood, “Dear Liar,” with Valerie
Harper and Anthony Zerbe at the Huntington Hartford, “Shalom
Alecheim” at the Chicago Yiddish Theatre, and “Tosea” at
the Chicago Opera.

Kim
Polston & Bill Belew at fan club event in
Rotterdam, NL.

Kim
Polston with Bill Belew at his autograph
signing session at Rotterdam, NL fan club
show.